He and It Chapter 187: Inquire Here (15)

Chapter 187: Inquire Here (15)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

With tears still streaming down his face, Zhen Yue’s eyes widened slowly. “Zhou…Yi?” he asked, his voice trembling. “Which Zhou Yi? Is it…is it the Immortal Zhou Yi?”

Everyone in the Ninefold Palace knew that their ancestor, the Immortal Snow Sword, had a close friendship with Zhou Yi. Even the news that the Ghost Dragon would awaken early had come from him. He had told Immortal Snow Sword, who then leaked a few words to Xue Li’s ears, which had prompted him to go hunting the beast.

If it was really Zhou Yi, then wouldn’t the chances of rescuing their sect be even greater? However, what did he mean by calling Liu Fuguang “Immortal Lord?”

On second thought, he recalled that along the way, he had treated the old Daoist who Zhou Yi was pretending to be with a carefree and disrespectful manner, and had shown no courtesy, let alone respect. That sense of relief and delight suddenly turned into fear. For a moment, his face was a mixture of joy, doubt, guilt, and happiness. He didn’t know what to say.

The other three were also stunned, and wondered why a true Immortal would disguise himself as an ordinary cultivator to mingle with them. Sun Yinian’s mind was quickest. After his initial surprise, he thought for a while and guessed what was going on with Liu Fuguang.

The young master has a close relationship with the Ghost Dragon, he thought. The true Immortal must have come here for him.

With that thought, his mood became extremely complicated. He wondered if their decision to enter the tomb and awaken the long-dormant Liu Fuguang had also been orchestrated by that legendary true Immortal who could read the secrets of heaven.

“Don’t think too much about it,” Zhou Yi sighed. Since he had come to Liu Fuguang’s side, he had sighed a lot more often than usual. “Since the Immortal Lord has made up his mind, if you are willing to follow, come with us. If you don’t want to take the risk, take his talisman and go wherever you want.”

Meng Xiaotang stared blankly at Liu Fuguang, then at Zhou Yi, and then at the bundle of black hair in her hand. Liu Fuguang was now hanging on by a thread, and his hair was no longer soft and shiny. It felt like a rough wisp of wind in her hand.

She bit her lip, and whispered, “Brother Fuguang, wherever you go, senior brother and I will follow! Now that our sect is gone, where else can we hide and escape?”

Xue Li on the side only asked one question, “What do you want us to do?”

When he saw the four people all express their determination in the same way, Zhou Yi sighed in his heart.

Good had been gone for six thousand years, and the world had suffered from the pain of the curse of the Turbid Heart and the Incomplete Heaven. It was much easier and quicker to cultivate demons and evil than to seek truth and enlightenment. If it weren’t for the support of the Immortals, the orthodox Daoists who sought truth and asked questions would have long since withered away.

Even so, there were far too few people in the Daoist sects who were resolute and of good character. Everyone was learning to save themselves, and doing anything selflessly for others was something that only a huge fool would do.

“When everyone knows that beauty is beautiful, it becomes ugly; when everyone knows that good is good, that in itself is evil…” ¹ From this, it could be seen that Liu Fuguang’s influence on them was indeed quite profound.

He took out four copper coins from his pocket, covered in patina, and handed them to each of the four people, as he said, “Tang Valley strictly forbids true Immortals from entering, and even I cannot break the Dragon God’s prohibition, so you can only rely on yourselves for everything. The area there is extremely vast. It is both a dragon palace and a place where the sun rises. Ordinary cultivators can fly with swords for three years without finding the edge of the horizon. Therefore, you must act separately. With those talismans, ordinary demon cultivators and ghost beasts will not be able to get close to you.”

“This is a ‘Heart-to-Heart Coin,'” the Immortal explained. “When you throw it up, hold the person or thing you are looking for in your heart, and when it falls, clap the coin into your palm, and it will guide you in the right direction.”

After he said what was needed, Zhou Yi released a golden boat magic artifact and helped Liu Fuguang into it first.

“Immortal Lord, be careful of your feet,” he said. “Once you go to the Dragon Palace, I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”

Liu Fuguang nodded and smiled calmly. “I know. Thank you for your help along the way.”

Zhou Yi sighed, “Immortal Lord, your status is noble, and you should not take such risks…”

“Do you think that if I die in front of Yan Huan, there will be no one left in the world to balance him?” Liu Fuguang smiled faintly. “Don’t worry, everything in the world is born from nothing, and difficulty and ease are interdependent…Without me, the ‘goodness,’ ‘evil’ will also cease to exist. He and I are not only mutually restraining, but also have a life-and-death relationship.”

Zhou Yi’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t expected Liu Fuguang to understand the matter more thoroughly than he did. However, without “goodness” and “evil,” what kind of chaos would come to the Three Thousand Worlds? That was a future that even he, a true Immortal, could not calculate.

“Then I would rather hope that things don’t come to that!” Zhou Yi lamented. “Just as I said before, I saved you not just to watch you walk to your death.”

The strong wind was blowing, and the golden boat sailed towards Tang Valley. Liu Fuguang looked at the dark night sky, absent of stars or moon, and wondered if that was also a sign of his own end.

The speed of a true Immortal was beyond question. Zhou Yi compressed the long journey into a day and a night and after six thousand years, Liu Fuguang returned to his homeland, a homeland that had long since disappeared into history and been forgotten by most people.

“This is it. Tang Valley.” Without anyone’s help, Liu Fuguang propped his thin, bony arm on the boat and slowly walked out of the cabin. “The sects you are looking for are here.”

In that vast, boundless valley, the sunrise couldn’t be seen, and a single person was even smaller than the smallest speck of dust. Meng Xiaotang carefully came out and saw that the ghost beasts guarding the sky were like streams of fine sand, that converged towards the fist-sized palace suspended at the end of the sky.

“Where are we going to look?” Meng Xiaotang asked timidly. “What if the Ghost Dragon…I mean, the Dragon God, keeps our sect on his body…”

Liu Fuguang laughed, but his eyes were so dark that there was no trace of a smile.

“No,” he said softly. “Yan Huan’s temperament is always arrogant, and dragons are creatures with a hoarding habit. Whatever they bring back from the outside world is usually piled up somewhere deep in the Dragon Palace, not casually placed on their bodies.”

Meng Xiaotang was speechless, but as she listened to these words, she felt like Liu Fuguang was so familiar with the Ghost Dragon’s temperament that it was like he had lived with him for a long time, like an old married couple.

“Let’s go.”

Before he took a step, Liu Fuguang turned his head and smiled at Zhou Yi.

“Immortal, the journey was rushed, and I haven’t had a chance to thank you properly. If I have the opportunity in the future…” He paused and smiled regretfully. “If I still have the opportunity in the future, I will surely repay you wholeheartedly and not let this kindness go unrewarded.”

As he spoke, the night wind blew aside his raven hair, and made his face appear as pale as snow. Even his thin body seemed to be made of snow, ready to melt in the wind and disappear in the sun. It was so sad that it made one’s heart tremble.

The Immortal couldn’t speak, so he just randomly nodded his head.

Liu Fuguang turned around and took the four young cultivators with him, which caused the small golden boat to shake as he headed towards the Dragon Palace.

Zhou Yi couldn’t go any further. He stood there and watched the small boat go further and further away, until it became a tiny, bright dot in his sight.

“Who dares to trespass into the domain of the Supreme?” Before they even got close, the demonic cultivators who were patrolling the outermost perimeter swarmed near and surrounded them menacingly, their demonic aura so strong that it became hard to breathe.

In the eyes of those demonic cultivators, the Immortal’s golden boat was like a dazzling fire. Having assumed it was an attack by the righteous path, the first demonic cultivator to rush up was surprised to see a young man dressed in white clothes as white as snow and fog. He was extremely beautiful and frail, like a moon glowing in the night, with empty hands as he sat quietly on the bow of the boat.

He didn’t smile, but he didn’t show any fear either. He was as calm as if he was rowing a boat through a river full of reeds, not through a sea of demonic cultivators and ghost beasts.

For some reason, the moment they saw him, the demonic cultivators felt both inexplicable fear and greed in their hearts. It was as if their eyes were being burned by hot flames, yet they couldn’t help but want to reach out and grab him.

However, as soon as they stretched their arms towards the young man in front of them, the countless ghost beasts that surged in the sky let out ear-piercing screams and roars.

– Blood rain and broken limbs fell like hail around the golden boat. 

Without hesitation, they tore apart those demonic cultivators that were in the way, like an undercurrent surrounding a bright pearl, which was constantly accumulating beside the golden boat.

Without those suicidal insects, they followed under the golden boat, either whining softly or circling around it relentlessly, as if they were chasing the most beautiful dream, pursuing Liu Fuguang closely.

Any ghost beast that got too close to him would find its tentacles and flesh rapidly melting and dissolving, as it turned into black streamers that flew high in the sky. However, all the ghost beasts were happy to do so. Like hungry bears licking honey, they greedily licked that sweet and beautiful death.

Billions of wide-open eyes, billions of creatures stared greedily at Liu Fuguang, and that wasn’t a sight that humans could bear, nor was it an attention that humans could bear. If anyone were to switch places with Liu Fuguang at that moment, they would surely be burned alive from the inside out by such intense gazes; turned into a pile of charred remains.

Liu Fuguang ignored all of it. He was about to meet Yan Huan, his former Dao companion, the attempted murderer, and his destined soulmate…Liu Fuguang’s mood at that moment was surprisingly calm.

The golden boat crossed the Heavenly Gate and slowly docked at the stairs of the Dragon Palace. The moment Liu Fuguang stepped off the boat, the hull shattered with a shocking echo, then disintegrated into thousands of misshapen fragments.

Even the magic treasure of a true Immortal couldn’t maintain its true form under the twisted gaze of the ghost beasts. However, it was only because of Liu Fuguang that it could barely maintain a stable state. Once Liu Fuguang left it, its fate was sealed.

“Let’s go,” Liu Fuguang whispered to the others. “Go find your sects. I’m here.”

Four people clutched his severed hair, as if they were grasping a lifeline. Under extreme oppression and fear, they couldn’t even utter a sound. They took advantage of the ghost beasts’ distraction, and hastily fled in the opposite direction, as they rode the clouds.

Liu Fuguang ascended the celestial steps, as he gazed at the majestic Dragon Palace, and moved upward.

As he reflected on those past days, he suddenly wondered, what Yan Huan was thinking as he ascended these same steps toward our chambers? And what was I doing within the Dragon Palace at that time?

He walked slowly, but the path to the Dragon Palace remained fixed. Countless ghost beasts crowded around in all directions, as they glared at him in incredulous joy and fear, and watched as Liu Fuguang entered the grand gates, where the lair of the Ghost Dragon awaited.

Inside the hall, Yan Huan leaned dazedly against his throne, as he held the unfurled scroll in his hands.

He seemed caught in an unreal dream, utterly stupefied. When he looked at Liu Fuguang’s expression it was like being struck head-on. He completely lost his sense of balance, and had to rely solely on external forces to stay upright.

Six thousand years of regret and deep dreaming had subjected him to intense pain countless times. He never imagined this scene: where the gates of the Dragon Palace swung open, and the companion he had searched for so long, entered slowly from outside, pale and emaciated like a specter.

— Was it, wasn’t it, a dream?

“Yan Huan.” Liu Fuguang halted on the other side of the vast chamber, and spoke calmly. “You sought me, and here I am. What more do you want?”

He watched the Dragon God stumble. He seemed unsure of how to walk. In a daze, Liu Fuguang suddenly recalled a small incident from the past.

Even years after their union, he still played the understanding wife role, while Yan Huan remained an unpredictable husband. He harbored so much unvented hatred and anger. He loathed the Immortals, loathed the world, because the true Immortals raised him, and he equally resented their attempts to bind him with filial duty. In his eyes, familial ties were twisted bonds used to conquer blood relations. Hence, he even intended to rob Liu Fuguang of the love meant for his family, and made a serious effort for a very long time, to prevent Liu Fuguang from meeting with, corresponding with, or talking to his relatives, until all contact was severed.

“You should only look at me. There’s no benefit in associating with insignificant people.” He gripped Liu Fuguang’s shoulder, and his smile was innocent yet manic, immersed in a pathological paranoia. “Of course, you should only look at me.”

That was the first time Liu Fuguang faced a near-collapse in their marriage. He detested speaking loudly, and using such methods to grab people’s attention. However, when he faced Yan Huan like that, he was truly infuriated. His eyes blazed, and they argued vehemently for a long time. Only when Yan Huan reluctantly realized he couldn’t monopolize all of Liu Fuguang’s emotions did he begrudgingly relax communications with the Eastern Swamp Kingdom, and allow messengers to visit.

The dragon’s greed knew no bounds; neither did the dragon’s strangeness, malice, or cold-bloodedness. Of course, that was a lesson Liu Fuguang learned after a long time.

“Is this…a dream?” He heard Yan Huan’s trembling voice. “Please, please, tell me, is this a dream?”

The name hovered on his lips. He hesitated to call out Liu Fuguang’s name, afraid that if he shattered the dream, he might never see his beloved so vividly again.

Liu Fuguang silently watched him. When Yan Huan stared at him, his dantian, dormant for millennia, once again felt an excruciating pain that made him convulse, as if icy flames were piercing through him.

Such was the power of the gods. When Yan Huan recalled his past actions on Bell Mountain, how he tore out Liu Fuguang’s dantian and shattered his Dao-heart, Liu Fuguang was destined to endure cycles of pain again and again.

However, what surprised him was the sight of Yan Huan’s suddenly white complexion and trembling hands. It seemed Yan Huan also realized this. The Dragon God let out a piercing scream, as if he were experiencing the torment firsthand. He clumsily knelt before Liu Fuguang as tears flowed from all nine eyes, as well as on the face that should have been blind, where two twisted blood trails ran down.

He cried. Yan Huan was crying.

Liu Fuguang couldn’t help but stare in astonishment.

“…Fuguang,” Yan Huan hoarsely said, as he finally uttered his companion’s name. “Fuguang…is it really you? Have you come back?”

Liu Fuguang lowered his head. It was strange indeed. He had never looked at Yan Huan from such a height before. After all, he was so proud yet buried in self-loathing, this Dragon God.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “It’s been so many years.”

Across distant times, intense love and hatred, and bitter entanglements, Liu Fuguang and Yan Huan’s eyes met. One was weary yet peaceful, the other frenzied and bewildered.

Yan Huan swallowed nervously. He had too much to say, yet became a dumbstruck mute instead. His lips moved, but he didn’t know where to start.

After a long while, he said dully, “Fuguang, do…do you want my life?”

Seeing Liu Fuguang’s puzzled expression, he quickly flashed a conciliatory smile, like a clumsy salesperson, and stammered, “You…you can take my life if you want. It’s useless to me anyway. I miss you so much. I’ve been thinking for a long time about how to make it up to you, how to apologize. Then I thought, yes, you can take my life! What do I need it for anyway? All that’s left for me alive is sadness and pain…”

He rambled on incoherently, his tongue seemingly tied in knots. Liu Fuguang stared at him blankly and asked, “What would I do with your life? Truthfully, I don’t hate you. I can’t learn to, so…”

At Liu Fuguang’s mention of “I don’t hate you,” Yan Huan’s face contorted horribly, which almost shattered his false eye sockets. He urgently shouted, “Don’t say you don’t hate me! Hate me, Fuguang, don’t not hate me. Hate me…”

His hands trembled violently, as he plunged them into his own chest. Amid the gruesome sound of tearing flesh and bone, he was soon covered in blood as he presented a still-beating, steaming dragon heart to Liu Fuguang. “Look, look…! This is my heart. I give you my heart, Fuguang. I know I was wrong. Step on it, stab it, crush it, do whatever you want with it. Don’t not hate me…”

At that moment, Liu Fuguang’s eyes welled up with unbearable bitterness. A single icy tear rolled down his cheek.

He had thought he could remain as calm and undisturbed as an ancient well, but when he faced Yan Huan like that it caught him off guard, and tears fell despite his efforts.

“What does it mean to have you say this now?” he asked softly. “Do you truly regret it, Yan Huan?”

Yan Huan still held the heart aloft, as he hoarsely admitted, “Regret…I regret it! I truly regret it. Don’t leave, Fuguang. I’m willing to give everything, do anything, as long as you live well. Look at me, Fuguang, look at my heart!”

Liu Fuguang tried to smile but his lips trembled incessantly. Finally, he gave up.

“I’ve tried, Yan Huan. I’ve tried so many times…too many times,” he said wearily. “A person can’t always be patient, gentle, and smiling forever. After seeing the thorns on you, they hurt you and others, I really don’t know what to do anymore. All I could do was keep smiling at you forever, and try to accept everything about you, and make you feel safe and relaxed.”

“Six thousand years…I’ve slept in my coffin, constantly wondering what I did wrong. I truly gave you everything I could,” Liu Fuguang shook his head. “Eventually, I felt my heart growing cold, as cold as ice. It made me shiver all over. Gradually, I stopped pondering that question.”

He looked up, and sorrowfully gazed at Yan Huan.

“Now that you’ve come looking for me, what more do you need? My soul, my flesh, or the life you once wanted but couldn’t take? I’ll give it all to you. I’m tired, Yan Huan. I’m so tired.”

Yan Huan held his own heart, as tears streamed down his face and he shook uncontrollably.

“You…you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all because of me…because I’m an idiot, a coward, inherently selfish and despicable,” he looked up at Liu Fuguang, his voice hoarse. “I’m the most disgusting thing under the heavens.”